


31st of December / 1st of January

by Carimes_treehouse



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Gol D. Roger's Birthday, Luffy's hat, Mentioned Gol D. Roger, Mentioned Portgas D. Ace, Portgas D. Ace's Birthday, Post-Marineford, Reminiscing, during Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28465155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carimes_treehouse/pseuds/Carimes_treehouse
Summary: It's the New Year. From Roger's birthday to Ace's. And Rayleigh tells Luffy about Roger's hat.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Silvers Rayleigh
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	31st of December / 1st of January

“Happy birthday, Ace” Luffy muttered as it turned midnight, marking the beginning of a new year.

Rayleigh chuckled next to him and looked at the moon directly over them. Indeed, it was midnight. 

Luffy turned to him with a confused expression.

“Nothing, it’s just... yesterday was Roger’s birthday too, the 31st of December.” he smiled fondly and Luffy stayed quiet, “The end of an era and the beginning of a new one. It’s almost as if he had planned it from the beginning, though of course he couldn’t have --Rouge didn’t even know when the little Ace would be born and she was his mother.” 

His face washed with something akin to regret for a second before it disappeared “Roger always did like his ‘easter eggs’, you know? Little secrets made to be discovered. Seeds he planted in remote areas for people to find. From something as known worldwide as the One Piece, to something as ignored as the significance of his hat.”

When it was clear he wasn’t going to continue, Luffy spoke up “He had a hat?”

Rayleigh took a sip of his drink “Two”

Luffy stayed quiet as he looked at the flames of the campfire. His expression was neutral, but still hiding his grief.

“I didn’t know he had a hat too. Or two hats? He wasn’t wearing one when he… uhm…”

He nodded “He had left the second hat with us but, the first one… he didn’t have it by then”

Luffy tilted his head “Really? How come?” He furrowed his eyebrows “Did he give it away?”

“‘Give it away’ isn’t the right phrase. More like… entrusted it to someone else”

He beamed “Oh! So like Shanks did to me!”

Rayleigh nodded and they stayed quiet for a while, letting the crackling of the fire and the rusting of leaves take over. Rayleigh took another sip.

“It’s funny. One would think people would at least mention that the pirate king had a hat. How come I’ve never seen it?”

He choked and coughed onto his fist, hiding his grin. “Oh, you’ve seen it, alright”

Luffy’s eyes became stars and leaned forward “Really? How didn’t I- What did it look like? No, wait, let me guess, let me guess. Was it uh…” his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and brought his hand to his chin “uh………” a few more seconds passed before he looked at him again “What was I…? Oh, right, the hat! Uhh...”

Rayleigh shook his head “If you haven’t got it by now, I doubt you will”

“Seriously though, why idn’t his hat well known? It’s the Pirate King’s hat! Everyone should know about it!”

“Trust me when I tell you it is. Just not because of him”

He kept quiet, trying to process those words “Because... of the person he gave it to?”

“Not… exactly. That person gave it to someone else too. Now, _that_ person is the one who made the hat famous.”

“Really? They must be very important for that person to give the hat to them. It must’ve been their treasure”

He hummed in agreement but didn’t elaborate.

“Anyway, whoever that person is, I’ll find them and see Roger’s hat for myself!”

Rayleigh looked at the empty space on Luffy’s head and nodded “I’m sure you will. Now rest up because we have a long day tomorrow.”

Luffy pouted “But Rayleigh…”

“No buts. Sleep now”

He groaned, and crawled over to his sleeping bag, after which he immediately fell asleep. Rayleigh glanced at him and sighed through his nose.

“Stupid Roger,” he said with a fond smile “Because of your hat, now I have to take care of this brat.” He paused and looked at Luffy’s sleeping body “Though I guess it isn’t that bad. I’m going to take a little longer to reach Davy’s Locker, if you don’t mind.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to post this at exactly midnight, but that might be difficult to do, so at 7:10 it is! Happy New Year's!!!


End file.
